Famously, the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil plays a central role in that story. MAO usually breaks down the DMT before it passes into the bloodstream, but the alkaloids from the ayahuasca vine slow this process, allowing the DMT to reach the brain. The acacia tree very likely represented something important. It is made with myrrh, cinnamon, and a plant called kaneh-bosm. In the Naqshbandi tradition of Sufism the burning bush is identified as Peganum harmala5, a bush with a long history of sacramental use in the Middle East which, as Benny Shanon speculates in his paper Biblical Entheogens, could have been combined with the local DMT-containing species of acacia to produce a libation virtually indistinguishable from ayahuasca. Could DMT have got into Moses’ system through its intentional consumption? If the holy anointing oil of the Hebrew Bible did indeed contain cannabis, perhaps Jesus’ healing miracles were performed with chemicals such as THC and CBD. The Bible opens with Genesis, the story of human origins. The vine Loranthus-acaciae is well-known by its name “burning-bush” suggesting a sacred use. Philip writes of the superiority of the anointing ritual over the baptism ritual, “There is water in water, there is fire in chrism”. People have talked about the burning bush story in the bible and how it could have been a dmt experience, it doesn’t seem plausible that Moses rolled up a big doink made using this random shrub and smoked it, is it possible that the smoke coming from the “bush” contained dmt and in turn gave him a dmt “god meeting” experience. The apocryphal texts, meaning that they belonged to esoteric cults that required initiations into their secret rites, were deemed heretical and were omitted. The plant ayahuasca has two key ingredients, MAO and DMT, and both give a hallucinogenic effect. Shamanism – Other Worlds – Ayahuasca Documentary. The burning bush is an object described by the Book of Exodus as being located on Mount Horeb; according to the narrative, the bush was on fire, but was not consumed by the flames, hence the name.1 In the narrative, the burning bush is the location at which Moses was appointed by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into Canaan. The burning bush that Moses saw, for example, was indeed an Acacia. It’s interesting speculation but one for which we have no evidence to believe it actually happened. View our Privacy Policy for more information. Danny Nemu, a reverend in the ayahuasca church of Santo Daime, has argued that the people of the Hebrew Bible had exactly this kind of knowledge. In the first several centuries following the life of Jesus, many different Christian sects existed. He studied Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience at Oxford University and is passionate about exploring the relationship between science and spirituality, which he does via his writing and his YouTube channel, YouTube.com/DrJamesCooke. It seems unlikely that one would have a psychedelic vision when exposed to this kind of smoke; however, dying from smoke inhibition is more probable. The first is Moses’ encounter with God, in the form of the burning bush. The plant grew outside of Egypt as well. So...yeah. There are some who believe that Syrian rue was the Biblical burning bush experienced by Moses and a component of an ancient Jewish/Hebrew hallucinogenic ayahuasca type drink. It’s one thing to wonder if the burning of cannabis had inspired the incense we’re familiar with today, but this archeo-chemical evidence moves this speculation into the realm of historical fact. Was cannabis the original incense? While the forbidden fruit may indeed be a reference to naturally occurring entheogens and the use of cannabis amongst ancient Hebrews seems to now be a certainty, the idea that the Hebrew Bible is the scripture of a religion that seriously employed psychedelic sacraments doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. The bible story you are talking about is Ezekiel. Ayahuasca is a sacred tea made from the vine of the Ayahuasca plant mixed with the leaves of the Chakruna bush. Taken with the anointing oil, a picture begins to emerge in which Jesus sought to democratize spiritual experience, a controversial figure who encouraged all to share in the divine sacraments which had previously been only for the elites. In the middle of the 20th century, this sparked a heated debate between two of the leading experts on the relationship between psychedelics and religion. It's been quite a time since I last recorded. How different was that religion? Does a particularly famous kind of “fragrant hemp” come to mind? On one side was R. Gordon Wasson, the ethnomycologist who had first brought psilocybin mushrooms to the West and argued that the sacrament of the ancient Hindus had been Amanita muscaria. In 2020, archeologists working on an eighth-century BC shrine at Tel Arad, 35 miles south of Jerusalem, made an incredible discovery. Did Moses Drink a Middle-Eastern Version of Ayahuasca? long that I'm looking for any excuse to put it, so this is getting RS has been actively expanding our connections in more diverse communities. The Acacia bush is common in those parts, and it contains DMT, while MAO is found in the Peganum harmala bush. Unfortunately for us, the wisdom of precisely making psychoactive mixtures in precisely the right way is often lost with the passing of time. “Kaneh” means “reed” or “hemp”, while “bosm” means “aromatic” or “fragrant”. flatten the curve of infection so as not to overwhelm our This creates a perfect situation for people to interpret the words of these ancient texts to be in line with whatever their favorite pet theory is. The other contained traces of cannabis that had been burnt on top of dried animal dung. No chapters this time, I've been putting off this story for so long that I'm looking for any excuse to put it, so this is getting published as is. Naturally occurring psychedelics, substances known to elicit intuitive religious knowledge, cannot help but come to mind upon reading this description. Required fields are marked *. The most convincing images are scenes of the tree of knowledge of good and evil as a mushroom, indicating that the obvious connection between psychedelics and the forbidden fruit may have existed in medieval times. This theory may also explain that the “burning bush” in the bible is not a literal bush on fire, but a bush that creates a figurative fire in the mind. #phoenix #mentalhealth #ayahuasca #cannabis #podcast #recovery Suggestions have been made that the Dictamnus albus plant, found throughout northern Africa is a candidate for the burning bush. “Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods.”  Aldous Huxley’s reference to the doors of perception being cleansed by psychedelics also fits nicely with the claim that “your eyes shall be opened” if these forbidden fruits are consumed. In The Psychedelic Gospels, Jerry and Julie Brown set out to document images of what appear to be psychoactive mushrooms in medieval Christian art, arguing they provide evidence for such a sacrament. What if the DMT realm was the real world, and our everyday lives were merely a game we had chosen to play? The Hebrew Bible states that the vessel that contained the ten commandments was made of acacia. Shanon also wrote an article for The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture called “Biblical Entheogens: a Speculative Hypothesis”. The Burning Bush podcast is about plant- & movement-based mental health wellness brought to you by Tyler Hurst and friends. The argument that the ancient Israelites knew the psychoactive effects of DMT found in the acacia originates with Professor Benny Shanon. Judaism also attaches symbolism to it. Keep coming back for more. In the book of Exodus, while wandering in the desert after fleeing slavery in Egypt, God sends the Israelites “manna from heaven”. Shanon suggests that the ancient Israelites may have brewed these two plants together, making an ayahuasca analog. Muraresku makes a compelling case that the early Christian church, steeped as it was in Greek culture, may very well have taken a similar spiked wine as its central sacrament. It can be found throughout the Middle East and is believed to have had incredible impacts on the births of Judeo-Christian religions, like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In 2008, psychology professor Benny Shanon published a controversial hypothesis that a brew analogous to Ayahuasca was heavily connected to early Judaism, and that the effects of this brew were responsible for some of the most significant events of Moses‘ life, including his vision of the burning bush. Are there any traces of psychedelics in East Asian cultures? to need ventilators to sustain lung function. Listen to Burning Bush podcast episodes free, on demand. Mark 6:13 states that “They cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them”. We may want to ask why we’re looking for psychedelics in the Bible in the first place. Perhaps surprisingly, Wasson doubted that the tree represented a mushroom, and he leaned on the expertise of art historians to back him up. It's not only possible, but plausible that Moses' legendary encounter with the ever burning bush, his conversation with Yahweh, and the bestowing of the Torah could have happened to him while he was under the influence of DMT, according to professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Benny Shanon. Manna is described as an edible substance that appears on the ground overnight. Michael Pollan on the influence psychedelics had on religion. “Once, I was forced inside the mouth—the size of a garage door—of a giant anaconda. Shannon says that the components needed to make the psychedelic brew ayahuasca are native to the Sinai Peninsula, just as they are in the Amazon where the brew is more popular. He suggests that several of the recipes described involve plants whose compounds may have had synergistic psychoactive effects. However, while this food is clearly divine in origin, it is not reported to produce psychoactive effects. Archeo-chemical analysis has shown that a ceremonial cup from the mysteries, celebrated at the edge of the Greek empire in Catalonia, contains ergot’s remains. This is rather close to the “kannabis” or ancient Greek, from which we get “cannabis”. The primary ingredient in ayahuasca is the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, but the beverage is a blend of multiple plants. The Acacia tree is widely recognized as being sacred. If the anointing oil is so central to Christianity, why isn’t it widely discussed? So much to share, In this paper, he speculates that the ancient Israelites may have known how to brew a psychedelic concoction, much like ayahuasca. New Age Animism: A Consciousness Theory With a Psychedelic Twist. The marks on one altar contained traces of frankincense, a substance described as being used as incense in the Bible. Even its name suggests that. Some suggest that the burning bush itself was an acacia tree and that Moses’ vision was produced by the psychoactive effects of the DMT. Allegro’s claims haven’t stood up well to scrutiny, however. We’ll most likely never know the true extent of psychedelic use in ancient Judaism and Christianity, as any positional use is shrouded in the mists of time. Each weekly episode starts with a sampling of local cannabis, then moves to a mental health-related conversation. Ergot also contains LSA, the same psychedelic chemical found in morning glory seeds. March 6, 2008, 8:42 PM ... "In advanced forms of ayahuasca … but first let's get sorta up to speed with a chat about Katie's I passed through diamond-shaped portals, going deeper and deeper, where I was introduced to mysteries,” Margaret describing one of her visions , which of course, vary from person to person. Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy | Shipping and Refund PolicyCopyright © 2020 Reality Sandwich. Did the smoke from the burning bush contain DMT? However, Syrian rue (Pergamum harmala) also grows in the Middle East and contains the alkaloids necessary to inhibit MAO and allow the DMT through the gut. Mushrooms are known to emerge suddenly overnight following periods of rain, but no mushroom matches the description of manna found in Exodus. Their goal was to learn about the mental and spiritual conditions of their patients. Did Jesus heal the sick with super-concentrated cannabis oil? Ayahuasca Lyrics: Angels down low, demons on high / Armageddon breaking out, bruh, just from these rhymes / In these times lambs die for the lies of their kind / While the wolves hide off in The seizures didn’t respond to medication, but she showed a dramatic improvement after taking CBD oil. Philip reported the effects to be highly entheogenic, writing that if “One receives this unction…this person is no longer a Christian but a Christ”. done for and for my mental state. We don’t need to be so directly tied to the past. Everything you are talking about has been well theorized. The DMT in the acacia tree would not have been enough to get any psychoactive effect from consuming the plant orally. Burning Bush Is An Independent Podcast About Truth In Cannabis And Mental Health Brought To You By Tyler Hurst And Friends. It is described as looking like a white frost, each piece the size of coriander seed and tasting of wafers made of honey. Shanon argues that Moses’ vision of the burning bush, and his interpretation of it as “the Divine”, was a sign that his consciousness was radically altered, most likely by an ayahuasca-like concoction. During the following period of persecution, the followers of these sects hid some of their texts, including those found in 1945 in the Nag Hammadi Library in Egypt. with. We're also in a coronavirus or COVID-19 inspired voluntary So much to share, but first let's get sorta up to speed with a chat about Katie's impressions of what my regular ayahuasca ceremony attendance has done for and for my mental state. Each weekly episode starts with a sampling of local cannabis, then moves to a mental health-related conversation. We might envision a truly forward-facing psychedelic religious reformation instead, one that doesn’t depend on whether or not Jesus was a mushroom. Great question! I’ll try an keep this medium length. In the Amazon, Ayahuasca is considered the pinnacle healing medicine of the rainforests entire medical system, containing the ability to heal people on a physiological, energetic, emotional and spiritual level, from various ailments of different types. These texts included the Gospel of Philip, which provides a take on Christianity in which an active anointing oil is central. We know for certain that the modern version of Christianity, with its cherry-picked gospels, is an incomplete picture of the religion that formed in the first centuries AD. Ayahuasca is indigenous to the Amazon basin, where it was prepared as a drink by shamans. Born in Tel Aviv, Shanon studied philosophy and linguistics at Tel Aviv University and received his doctorate in experimental psychology from Stanford University. healthcare system as the immunocompromised and elderly are likely Each weekly episode starts with a sampling of local cannabis, then moves to a mental health-related conversation. In “Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible”, author Chris Bennett makes the case for kaneh-bosm being cannabis. This was as true for the potion drunk by the influential Greek at Eleusis as the Hebrew anointing oil, which God had decreed to Moses, was only to be used by the priestly class. Rick Strassman, of "DMT The Spirit Molecule" fame wrote a book about exactly this called "DMT and the Soul of Prophesy". Ayahuasca, the drink, is brewed from the DMT-containing leaves of the chacruna shrub (Psychotria viridis) and the bark of the ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi). I have a lot more stuff to share, including some writings I did The true identity of manna remains a mystery. By SIMON MCGREGOR-WOOD. impressions of what my regular ayahuasca ceremony attendance has We are looking forward to focusing on psychedelics and other societies, including Asian cultures. Each weekly episode starts with a sampling of local cannabis, then moves to a mental health-related conversation. #psychedelics #psilocybin. Such a democratic version of Christianity, in which all participants connect with the divine within themselves, may have been seen as a significant threat to the hierarchical modes of the young religion, in which the Bishops sought to retain their power. Up until 396 AD, the rites of Demeter were celebrated in the Greek city of Eleusis. Did the Israelites consume mushrooms while wandering in the desert? In 2013, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta presented a documentary called “Weed” which included the story of a girl named Charlotte Figi. A growing number of Jews are using psychedelics to reach spiritual highs, and you might be … Shanon is a cognitive psychologist, professor of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and has extensive experience drinking ayahuasca. Perhaps the casting out of devils described by Mark was the effect of CBD-infused holy oil helping people suffering from epilepsy. Wherever Syrian rue occurs may indicate that natives have used it as an hallucinogen, as well as for other religious and magical purposes. The argument that the ancient Israelites knew the psychoactive effects of DMT found in the acacia originates with Professor Benny Shanon. Was Jesus’ original sacrament a wine spiked with LSD-like chemicals? Ayahuasca often induces visions/hallucinations in the taker and it can be monstrous, bizarre and mysterious. Speaking of his own experience of ayahuasca during a religious ceremony in … It has even been suggested by scholar Benny Shanon that Moses composed an ayahuasca analog from acacia resin and syrian rue, an MAOI, and that this allowed him to see his visions of Yahweh, the burning bush, and so forth. Should you try? Originally proposed by Carl Ruck, Albert Hoffman, and R. Gordon Wasson in The Road to Eleusis, this idea has recently received striking support, as documented in The Immortality Key by Brian Muraresku. Shanon said that there are two plants that are known in the Sinai region that have those same ingredients. Taken from Joe Rogan Experience #1227 w/Mike Tyson: https://youtu.be/7MNv4_rTkfU However, actual evidence for this idea lacks any reference to Syrian rue in the Hebrew Bible. “Christ” means the anointed one, and Jesus, along with his disciples, performed healing miracles using anointing oil. Charlotte suffered from hundreds of debilitating seizures a week as a result of a disease called Dravet syndrome. The idea of Jesus as a medicine man who democratized entheogenic sacraments, however, is well within the realms of possibility. This recipe called for a large amount of kaneh-bosm which, if cannabis, would have been highly psychoactive when applied liberally on the skin. Thank you for writing this article and also for providing links to resources. In the summer, the plant, also known as the “gas plant,” exudes a variety of volatile oils that can catch fire readily and may give the impression that the bush is burning. Even more interesting, I feel, is the fact that one parasite Loranthus-eugenioides specie was used, together with the host plant Acacia jurema, by the brazilian indians from the northeast to brew an entheogenic tea known as “AYUKA”, that is an strong ayahuasca-analogue, from my personal experience. Your email address will not be published. The shrine, which would have been part of the kingdom of Judah, contained two limestone altars in its inner sanctum. These Eleusinian mysteries have been argued to have featured a potion containing LSD-like chemicals found in the fungus ergot. Epilepsy has been attributed to possession by demons across cultures throughout time. The name kaneh-bosm was sometimes fused in traditional Hebrew, into kannabos or kannabus. Details like this are not included by chance. Reality Sandwich uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Many lessons can be learned from new age animism, and how a new age approach to this ancient system can benefit our wellbeing. For example, the high priests would use an incense described in the Talmud of Judaism as containing saffron, spikenard, agarwood, cassia, mastic costus, and cinnamon.